The Crossover
by kendertaunt
Summary: Felicity, Diggle and Oliver are on a mission at a gala to stop a potentially dangerous deal from going through. But what's wrong with Felicity?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: This is my first Arrow fic as well as my first multi-chapter fic. I hope you enjoy it!**

Felicity was tapping away at her keyboard, waiting for Oliver and Diggle to come back from their latest mission to give them her news. They were still on the comms, so she knew the moment they arrived at Verdant. This had been a quick and easy one, but it still didn't stop her racing heart from slowing down a little bit every time they made it back safely from a mission.

The empty room amplified her every move, and even with the men in her earpiece, she could still hear the echo of the keys tapping and it always made her feel uneasy to be there by herself.

It was fairly early in the evening, they had come right from Queen Consolidated, so even the club directly above her wouldn't be active for a few more hours.

The familiar sound of feet on the stairwell made her swivel around to watch as her boys arrived safely back at the lair. She let them put down their gear, watching as Oliver hung his bow and pushed down his green hood, letting it fall to his neck exposing his face with the green mask still on.

Without even realizing she was doing it, she got up from her chair to take off his mask and place it in the glass case along with his bow.

"What is it, Felicity?" asked Digg, who had removed his coat and put his gun down on the counter.

She must have given Diggle a funny look because he leaned against her desk and crossed his arms. "You only help us settle in when you're waiting to tell us something."

A sheepish smile crossed her face as he added, "I should change that to you only help _him_ settle in when you're waiting to tell us something."

Felicity winced internally and made a mental note to do something nice for Diggle in the next few days. "Sorry Digg. You know how I feel about handling guns versus arrows. Maybe when _you_ start wearing a mask, I'll help you put it away.

"And come to think of it, it wouldn't hurt to make a point to start putting away _every_ potentially lethal object around here, we already screwed that up when Barry was here and found nitric acid next to the hydrazine which apparently is _really_ bad –" she was making an explosion gesture with her hands when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Felicity." She spun and saw Oliver standing over her, his eyes focused and waiting.

She let out a slow breath. "Right. Sorry." Maybe it was the rambling that made him stop her, or maybe it was the mention of Barry that she knew he didn't like, and she honestly didn't even mean to bring up. She silently added Oliver to her list of people to do something nice for.

"There's good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?" A quick glance at Oliver's face and stance showed he was nearing the end of his patience for waiting.

"Right. Sorry again. The good news is that we have the chance to stop a million dollar arms deal going down."

"And the bad news?" asked Diggle.

"The bad news," Felicity continued, "is it has to be done tonight. Like, in a few hours. But there is more good news. I can do it from here."

Oliver moved to stand closer to the computer monitors. "Felicity, what exactly is going on?"

Felicity walked over and Oliver absently pulled out the chair so Felicity could take her seat. A few clicks, and she had brought back up the info she had been working on before Oliver and Diggle arrived back at the lair. A photo appeared on the screen.

"This is Anderson Baler. The Baler Foundation is a non-profit agency dedicated to providing transport of donated food, goods and school supplies to and from Starling City to other cities in the country.

However it would seem that no one's ever actually _inspected_ the trucks carrying supposed donated goods. Unless of course they're teaching first graders how to use semi-automatic weapons now, which is what's really in those trucks. The Baler Foundation, as it turns out, is just a front for a major arms smuggling operation."

She swiveled again in her chair, facing Oliver and Diggle. "And guess who is having a fund raising gala at his house tonight?"

"Baler himself," answered Diggle as Oliver replied with tight lips, "He's paying for his next shipment with the donation money."

"Bingo," said Felicity, pointing to Oliver. "His phone history has a few texts, mostly about lunch orders, that man can eat like it's nobody's business. But there's definitely a money transfer going down there tonight."

Diggle stood up from the desk he was leaning on and looked at Oliver. "Did you know about this event tonight?"

The blank look on Oliver's face confirmed that most likely no one in his family knew about it. "No, as far as I know, Thea's headed to Verdant soon to open up for the night."

Felicity couldn't contain her surprise at that. "Wow, a gala that the Queens didn't know about? I didn't think that was possible."

He gave her a sideways glance. "We've never donated to them before, I guess they had a pretty big guest list already based on past donors, that's not uncommon."

Oliver shrugged casually, but Felicity knew him well enough to see the faint glimmer of surprise at hearing about the gala.

She knew how hard his daily balancing act was. From playboy billionaire CEO and loving son and brother by day to hero by night, she knew he relied on her to keep his reality focused and grounded. Tomorrow morning she'd add a ping to her daily search of area events and happenings, but for now, she could stop this transaction from going down.

"You said you could stop it from here?" Oliver's voice echoed from the back of the room. Apparently satisfied with her report, he'd shucked off his green leather hoodie and started releasing some of his unused adrenaline from the previous mission on the mat.

"Do I like mint chip ice cream and chinese food on a Friday night? I'm already on it." Out of the corner of her eye she caught Diggle smirking at her and answered with a smile of her own.

For the next twenty minutes, the lair was filled with the sounds of Oliver silently working out, Diggle cleaning his weapons, and Felicity tapping on the keyboard.

For Felicity, accessing the Baler Foundation's network was easy. She traced his IP address from his sent email headers and mapped it to the physical location of his house. She stared at the screen incredulously. "His server is actually at his house. Where the gala is."

Diggle looked up from his cleaning and glanced at her. "Is that unusual?"

"No," she replied, "more just… surprising. I guess I'm getting too used to the high executive life of server rooms guarded 24/7 on the highest floor in the building." Her mind fleeted back to being in Oliver's arms as he carried her across the elevator shaft to access Malcom Merlyn's computer network.

She let out a small shudder, not knowing whether it was the memory of the height itself, or being in Oliver's arms for a short time.

"Don't get spoiled by a job being too easy, wouldn't want that now," she caught Diggle's teasing tone from his table and appreciated the acknowledgement, and the fact that he clearly didn't see her shudder.

She breached the login screen with ease and headed to the remote screen of the server. "Oh, come on, surely even I deserve a vacation from time to ti – wait a minute."

Something wasn't right. She had seen the remote screen flash up. For a brief moment, it was there, but in a flash she was disconnected.

Her change in tone must have brought both Oliver and Diggle up to her desk, as they appeared next to her without her even realizing they had moved.

"Felicity?" The curious questioning tone in Oliver's voice was unmistakable and Digg glanced at him before looking back to Felicity with concern.

She tried it again, with the same results. Login, connect to server, see it for a second, get disconnected. Frustrated, she pounded her fist into the desk she was working on, causing the keyboard to jump. She felt Oliver's warm palm on her shoulder again and closed her eyes, allowing a wave of calm to wash over her at his touch. "I-I think there's someone there. In the server room, disconnecting me."

After taking a deep breath, she felt much more focused. Silently cursing her karma at thinking this was going to be too easy, she switched tactics and tried several more back-door attempts to access the server. Before she was disconnected, she'd had a few seconds to see the screen, which gave her the operating system version and the means of network the server was using. She used that knowledge to gain access to the router without having to go through the server.

However, each attempt was met with the same denial. It was like whoever was on the other end knew what she was going to try three steps before she tried it.

She made one more desperate attempt to connect remotely and had the server visible on her screen, when a DOS window opened on the remote server. The cursor blinked a few times, and the words "SORRY" typed out in front of her.

She let out an audible gasp and flung the power cord out of the back of her up so quickly her chair would have tipped over had Diggle not had the reflexes to catch it in time, she ran into the bathroom and tried to turn on the faucet with shaking hands.

She couldn't seem to grasp the handle, until she saw a hand cover hers and twist the water to the on position.

She looked up into the mirror and saw Oliver's face, concern written all over it staring back at her.

"Felicity, what happened?" The gentle tone of his voice for once did nothing to alleviate her frustration.

She paused to splash warm water on her face and turned to face Oliver, who calmly turned off the faucet. "Thanks. They knew what I was doing. Whoever it is, they're good. As good as me. And you know I'm not bragging, I'm letting you know that we're not talking about an amateur here."

Oliver closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and handing her a towel. "I don't think you're bragging. Were you able to access anything?"

"Not for more than a few seconds. I do know that our network is safe. The remote window they opened up to type out the message was on their server, not ours. So at least while they know we tried to get in, they'll never be able to trace it back to us." She paused and couldn't keep the pride out of her voice. "No matter how good they are."

She saw Oliver's lips curl up for a brief moment while he followed her out of the bathroom, once again enjoying the feel of his warm hand on her back.

"The question is, does he know what's going down tonight or not." Felicity almost missed Diggle's question as Oliver's hand left her back, and she lamented the loss.

"Or 'she', I'll thank you very much for not making assumptions" she couldn't resist as she sat back down in her chair and once again faced her boys.

Her brilliant mind raced with possible solutions, each one always arriving at the same conclusion. She thought of the individual gangs of the Glades having access to millions of dollars worth of weapons and made up her mind on the spot.

"There's no other way to do this." She looked at the blank looks staring back at her. Apparently she would have to spell this out.

"I have a way to take down the network, but I need to be in that server room."

Diggle was already starting to open his mouth but Felicity was faster.

"Oliver, get your checkbook and your tuxedo ready. We're going to a fund raiser."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Here we go, everyone! I can never get enough of protective Oliver and Diggle, so I definitely needed that, with a side order of eye sex.**

**Read, and please let me know what you think!**

* * *

"No." Oliver's voice was firm.

"Oliver," Felicity interjected, but Oliver was quicker. "You don't need to be there. Me or Digg can do it."

"Do what?" argued Felicity. "You don't even know what I'm planning. If you and Digg can clear out that room for 20 seconds, I can take down the network, and they'd never be able to figure out what's wrong to fix it."

"Twenty seconds," said Oliver slowly, as Diggle's voice went up simultaneously, "Twenty seconds?"

"It's called a crossover cable," Felicity explained. She stood up to face them. "You know what a regular Ethernet network cable is, right?" Blank looks stared back at her again.

"The cable that plugs into the back of your computer that looks like a giant version of a telephone cord?" Digg started nodding slowly, which Felicity took as a positive sign to continue.

"A normal Ethernet cable is called a patch cable. It's what we use every day to connect our computers, servers, everything to the router. We use them here, they use them there.

"A crossover cable is wired differently. The purpose of the cable is to connect hardware directly to a server, without going through a router. It plugs in the same way, but the network will never connect if you use that type of cable the way they are using a regular Ethernet cable now."

Oliver and Diggle were still staring, clearly trying to keep up so she felt the need to continue.

"Actually, I've secretly always wanted to do this, just never to stop some actual bad guys. Frankly I've always thought it would make a _really_ good prank one day."

She slowly walked back to her chair. "I guess I'll be happy I'm getting to do it in some way, shape or form."

"We haven't decided you're doing it yet," growled Oliver.

"There's one thing I don't get," Diggle spoke up from his spot in the room. "If these cables are different, how would whoever is back there not be able to figure out what's going on?"

"Have you ever looked closely at a telephone wire?" asked Felicity.

"Maybe?" replied Diggle. "Maybe if you tell me what I was supposed to be looking at?"

"At the end of the cable, where the cable actually connects to the computer, or telephone, if you look at that plastic connector you can actually see wires. Those individual wires are called pin connectors, and they're all different colors.

"In layman's terms," she continued, "If you swap those colors, you swap how the cable works. It looks exactly identical to an Ethernet cable, it's just that the pin connectors are reversed."

"And you can make one of these cables?" asked Oliver, clearly curious.

"Mint chip answer again?" replied Felicity without even looking up this time. "Some girls carry compact mirrors in their purses. I carry networking tools."

"So you want to just go in there and swap the cable," said Diggle. "The regular cable that's already there, for your 'special' cable, that looks identical."

"Yes," Felicity nodded. "Swapping a cable is 20 seconds, tops. I just need you," she turned her attention to Oliver, "to make sure the server room is empty before I go in there. I make the switch, then the tech can go back in there and have fun trying to figure out why their network just went down."

Oliver was still holding his ground. "I still don't see why you need to be there. This is something that Digg or I can do. Felicity, we need you _here_."

Felicity paused at that. Flashbacks to her earlier conversations with Oliver had her hearing the subtext beneath his words. She knew what Oliver was saying without being able to say it. He _wanted_ her to stay here. He needed to know she was safe.

She forced herself to ignore him, knowing that if she focused on his words she could actually possibly let herself be swayed by them.

Instead, she focused on why she knew it needed to be _her_ doing the switch, and gave Oliver an incredulous look.

She walked over to a cabinet behind her desk and rummaged for a few moments when she emerged with two almost identical rectangular objects in her hands.

"OK, Oliver. I'll let you do it."

"Really?" Felicity almost laughed, he had the same hopeful look the first time she sarcastically told him she would bring him a coffee.

"I'll let you do it," Felicity continued, watching Oliver's eyebrow raise, "if you can tell me which one of these items is the router, and which one is just a switch." She held up the two objects.

Oliver opened his mouth for a second and then promptly closed it again, while raising his finger hesitantly. Finally, admitting defeat, he lowered his hand and pressed his lips together.

"Exactly." Felicity triumphantly lowered her arms. "Your computer skills on your best day wouldn't get you through your way around a server room."

His eyes were dark. "I don't need to know how to use a server to put an arrow in it." His voice turned low and dangerous.

Expecting this, Felicity had an answer ready. "Oliver, we need whoever it is to not have a reason to think this transaction won't go through. My way is transparent."

"And _my_ way can just put an arrow in whoever it is, instead of the server." He wasn't going to let this go; she had to find another avenue.

"This plan is a temporary one," she fought. "We stop the transaction, we stop the weapons from going out tonight," she emphasized the last word. "That gives us the breathing room that we need." Her eyes glanced over to Diggle, silently asking for help.

Diggle mused thoughtfully, "She's right. We only know Baler's involved. If we stop this one from happening, we could take our time to find out every party he's delivering to. But if we want to do that, we can't let him know we're onto him tonight."

The pause of their voices made the silence unbearable, and the tension bounced off the walls. Oliver closed his eyes, looking like he was willing the situation to go away.

She put down the equipment she was holding and walked up to him and looked up. Standing right next to his chest, she could see the tightness in his jaw, the way all his muscles clenched.

His eyes were still screwed tightly shut, but he sensed her presence and slowly opened them. The pain in his eyes was palpable, and almost enough to make her look away.

"Look," she spoke softly, knowing in this state she would push him away if she used any other tone, "I know you don't want me going in there, and frankly if there was any other way I'd be perfectly happy to stay here and do it."

He still hadn't moved, so she decided to keep going.

"I'm very well aware how good things sound when we talk about them here versus when I'm actually out, there, doing it." The words were out of her mouth before she'd thought about them, and she instantly regretted it.

Oliver's lips tightened even more, and she knew he was thinking about her previous missions out in the field and the hesitations she always had right before them.

It also reminded her that once she was at the gala and it was time to do the job, all she'd want to do is turn around, and go home to her nice safe apartment where she could put on a pair of pajamas, pour a glass of wine, and be safe.

But like those previous missions, it was remembering why she was doing it that gave her the strength to continue. To stop more girls from falling victim to a serial killer. To find Walter. To stop the supply of Vertigo from hurting anyone else. And now, to stop the Glades from being overrun with dangerous weapons.

She shook her head and raised her eyes. "I'm not about to do anything crazy. I'm not a hero, you're the hero.

"I just want to make a difference. And this? This is something I can do. This is _my_ job. It's what I can do. _Your_ job is to keep me safe while I do it. And I know that's something you can do."

His eyes were hard and looking right into hers. She stared back for a few moments, and then it was suddenly too much. Unable to look at his eyes any more, she turned and headed into the bathroom.

She grasped her hands on either side of the sink and took a long, shuddering breath.

Oliver had followed her into the bathroom and was leaning against the door, silently. She knew he was there, but didn't turn around to look at him.

"You don't have anything to wear to a gala that you could get in time." The words were quiet and desperate, so quiet she was almost afraid she made it up in her head, and so broken she almost gave in right there.

He was trying so hard to give her a reason not to go. She realized he'd been out there, grasping at straws, until he finally found something that wasn't so remotely ridiculous he could come in and use it against her.

It was almost enough to break her resolve, until she remembered that it was her trying to convince them to let her do this, not the other way around.

"Actually, I do," she whispered, and didn't miss Oliver's surprised expression. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that answer.

She silently walked past Oliver at the door and over to her area next to the mat, reached down, and pulled out a balled up, red lump of fabric. She unrolled the fabric and gently shook it out. A pair of shoes and a hair clip tumbled from the center.

Oliver walked up and touched the fabric. His voice was soft and low. "This is the dress I got you the night at Alonzo's casino."

"I kind of forgot it was here. After we got back from the casino I- I just wanted to get out of it as quickly as possible." Memories of the news about Walter and Oliver's mother surfaced in Felicity's mind, and she knew what an emotional night that had been for both of them. "I have to shower anyway, the steam will get the wrinkles out."

She knew the moment when Oliver realized that his last trump card had been overturned. His face went from desperate to silent acceptance, and she saw he had made his decision.

"Fine. But we do this – "

"Your way. I know. Trust me," she raised her hands to face him. She wasn't going to bring up the last time she had done something her way. She still occasionally had nightmares about The Count's hands brushing against her ponytail, and what Oliver had had to do to save her.

"And my way, too." Diggle walked up to her. "He may be the one in the green suit but it's my job to keep you safe, too."

A part of her knew that Digg cared about her as a member of their team too, but that didn't stop her from appreciating it when his worry slipped through.

He held out his hand. In it contained a small dagger. "Keep this on you," he waited for her to take it.

Felicity stared at the dagger and her heart started thumping in her chest. She didn't honestly think she'd use it and was possibly starting to doubt the wisdom of this entire mission. "Digg, I-"

"Keep this on you," he repeated. "You probably won't need it and God knows I hope you don't, but like I said, if you're going out there, you're doing it my way too."

"Digg, is that really necessary?" The dismay in Oliver's voice was unmistakable.

"We've been working on it a few times," he nodded. "She knows how to use it enough that she can take it with her and I'll feel a hell of a lot better than I do now."

Felicity knew neither of them were happy about this, and if she even showed the slightest bit of hesitation, then they'd call it off right then and there. So she took the small dagger and tried to look more confident than she felt at the moment.

"If anyone asks I'll just say I'm really particular about my nail files. Thanks Digg, you sure know how to bring a feminine touch to a gala."

Diggle smiled to acknowledge her acceptance, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Seemingly satisfied that she took it, he turned and headed to his locker, and the mood once again shifted as everyone focused on getting ready to leave.

In record time, the transformation was complete and the three headed outside to drive to Baler Anderson's house. Felicity clung to her small clutch like a lifeline, glancing in to check its contents. In it contained her crossover cable, phone, dagger, and a large check as a donation to ensure their entry into the gala, which she vowed she would stop from clearing once the night was over.

Oliver held the door open and Felicity silently slid into the car, sweeping her dress underneath her. When she was seated, Oliver got in beside her and closed the door, Digg taking up position in the driver's seat.

For a few minutes there was silence as the car pulled away from the club, until Oliver's voice quietly filled the air.

"By the way, Felicity. You were wrong about one thing." She turned to look at him, curiously.

"I'm not the only hero. It's like Diggle said, I'm just the only one who wears the green suit."

He turned and looked at her with such conviction and with a level of intensity she couldn't have looked away if she wanted to. The air grew thick and she was fairly sure she tried to swallow a few times unsuccessfully.

"You don't realize it," he continued, and if anything, his features intensified as he continued to focus on her. "You _are_ a hero, Felicity. You make a difference every day down there and you know we could never do this without you."

Somehow, it was exactly what she needed to hear. "Thank you," she managed to whisper, as she looked up so her sudden watery eyes wouldn't spoil her carefully applied makeup.

He nodded, and placed a warm hand over hers and gave a gentle squeeze.

As they sat there drawing strength from one another, Felicity contemplated the roles they would be playing tonight.

From a professional standpoint, they were Oliver Queen, CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, and Felicity Smoak, executive assistant to Oliver Queen.

Felicity closed her eyes and leaned against the headrest in the back seat of the car and, just for a moment, allowed herself to imagine what it could feel like to go to an event like this as Oliver's date.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I loved your reviews, thank you very much! Please let me know if you are enjoying it so far!**

* * *

They arrived at the party, which they could hear was in full swing by the time they drove up.

Before walking up to the door, Oliver grabbed Felicity by the arm and pulled her aside. Her heels clacked on the pavement as she turned to face him.

"Last chance. You don't have to do this." She held his gaze for longer than he thought she would, and then she nodded.

"Yes I do. And don't worry, I told you I won't let your check clear. I'm not funding his operation."

"I'm not worried about the check, Felicity." Oliver sighed. He knew how much what they were doing meant to her. "Alright, let's go." He offered her his arm, and they walked through the double door.

As they walked into the large living area that served as the main room of the party, Oliver noticed how fluid and naturally they interacted with each other as he took their coats while Felicity grabbed two glasses of champagne and handed one to him, holding onto the other.

The room was crowded; this was a fairly large sized party. A small orchestra was playing in the corner, while waiters in white shirts walked around carrying small silver trays of appetizers through the crowd.

For a few moments, they scanned the crowd, becoming familiar with their surroundings as they sipped their champagne.

"Digg, maybe you could, I don't know, pretend to look like you're blending in," he heard her low voice over the comm as well as right next to him, and his eyes looked up reflexively looking for his right hand man.

His eyes scanned the room until they laid on Diggle, walking around the outside edge of the room.

"I am blending," Oliver could see his lips moving from across the room. "This is how I, you know. Blend."

Felicity grabbed another glass of champagne off a waiter who had been walking by and put her own empty glass down in its place. Oliver watched as she walked up to Diggle and thrust it into his hand. "For a bunch of high class people you can be remarkably unaware as to how high class people are supposed to act at a fancy party."

"I just protect them, I try not to get involved with the politics. That is, I used to protect them," Digg added. "Now I just drive them around all day."

"Why John Diggle," Oliver could hear the elatement in her voice as she turned and headed back to him. "I believe you have just done your first real blend of your career. Somebody give that man a glass of champagne. Oh wait, I did that already. Somebody get _me_ a glass of champagne."

Oliver felt the edges of his lips curl up in a small smile at that, still scanning the room. His eyes went up to the corner of the ceiling. "Digg, do you see all the cameras?"

"I guess I was blending better than you thought if you couldn't see me looking," he heard Diggle's voice through his earpiece. "I got two in the living room and one more looking out from the bottom of the stairway."

Oliver stepped out of the main living area and into the foyer near the front door. "I see one more pointed right at the entrance."

"I've also seen that I'm not the only watchful eye around here. There's a few extra hired guests as eyes on the room. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there's definitely something important going down here tonight," said Diggle. "Nice find, Felicity."

"Thanks, now please go find me a server room."

Walking back towards Felicity, Oliver let his hand glide down her arm to turn her around. "We've got enough to start looking for the server. Are you okay here by yourself?"

She continued the turn into him and straightened his tie. It was innocent and it was domestic, and he had to force himself not to get distracted by how comfortable the simple action felt. "I'm fine. And where is it?" She looked at Oliver, who stared back, his mind reeling thinking back to what she could possibly be looking for.

"You know I wasn't kidding when I said the whole 'get the girl another glass of champagne' thing." She was starting to get fidgety and looked around.

He stared at her in amazement. "You were serious?" Oliver knew that when Felicity was nervous, she talked. While he always listened and heard everything she said, he was still getting to know what was a real request from a sarcastic front.

"Oliver, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not so good at the gala circuit. I need to hold onto a glass of champagne with both hands. Not only will it calm my nerves, which frankly I feel is not a bad thing at the moment, it will stop me from compulsively futzing with my phone which, God I _really_ want to do right now, will you _please_ get me another glass."

She was visibly edgy now, so Oliver complied with her request and stepped two feet to his right to pluck a fresh glass of champagne off a tray and hand it to her.

Her outburst had come somewhat of a surprise, because up until that moment, Oliver had noticed how naturally she fit into the scene that was normally reserved for the type of persona he had to pretend to be every day. He tilted his head and studied her, really looking at her for the first time that night. The red dress had cleaned up beautifully as she knew it would, and it wasn't often he got to see her blonde hair down and tumbling off her shoulders.

He also didn't miss the way he wasn't the only one noticing her for the first time that night.

She saw him looking at her out of the corner of her eye. "What is it?" She grabbed a napkin off the tray and squeezed her eyes shut. "Please don't tell me there's something on my face because I'm not so sure I could handle that right now."

"No, it's not that," he quickly reassured her. "It's not that at all. Actually it's just the opposite. You look like you belong here."

Apparently he'd said the right thing, as she opened her eyes. "I do like to get dressed up and go out. It's just that rather than a glass of champagne and a sea of people, I tend to feel more comfortable with a double shot of espresso and a wall of monitors. Preferably really, really large monitors because monitor size does matter and tell me I did _not_ just say that." She took a large gulp from her glass.

Oliver chuckled, but then his face turned serious. "Just please do me a favor and stick to water after this one. I promise you all the expensive wine you can drink once we're out of here."

Her eyes raised as if to say "I'm holding you to that" when Diggle's voice came over the comm. "I found it. Just walked by while the door was open. Looks like it could be the server room. Only one computer, but the coffee by the desk is fresh. There's no one there now."

"Let's go," Oliver put his hand on Felicity's back and led her out into the hall. No one spared them a glance.

"Have you seen our gracious host yet?" Once Diggle asked the question, Oliver realized that he hadn't actually seen Anderson Baler yet at his own party.

"Maybe he's trying to finalize his deal," offered Felicity while they walked down the hall.

"I could go check out-" started Oliver but never got to finish as Diggle's voice came over the comm urgently. "Walk away, do you hear me? Walk away. Oliver, looks like we need plan B to clear out that room."

In one motion, Oliver had both stopped and simultaneously turned himself and Felicity back down the hall towards where they had just came. "Felicity," he leaned in close to her ear. She shuddered, whether it was from the proximity to the chill from the front door or to his actions he couldn't tell. "Go back to the main room but be ready, we'll tell you when it's time."

He watched her head back into the crowded room, and then turned a corner and almost ran into Diggle, who had headed back his way.

"What's the plan?"

"I saw Felicity's mystery tech. I'm going to go relieve him of his duties for a few minutes. I caught the names of some of the hired hands, shouldn't be too hard to convince him I'm working for Anderson and to go get a drink at the bar for a few minutes."

Oliver sometimes found himself forgetting how good Diggle really was at his job.

"Oh, and Oliver?" Diggle started to walk back down the hall, putting his hand to his ear, pausing his comm. "Man, I don't want to be anywhere near Felicity when she learns he's a dude after all."

Vowing to keep that piece of information to himself for now, and knowing that Felicity was fine for now on her own in the main hall, Oliver decided to take a few moments to do some exploring of his own. Well practiced in how to look like he was scoping out an available room to borrow, he went upstairs and listened, hoping to catch a lead on where Anderson Baler might be.

From across the hall, a door was open a crack and the sound of a radio blasted through the silence, causing Oliver to jump slightly. "_Guys, I'm taking a break. I'll be right back. The server's running a few updates, I'd just be sitting there anyway_. _Hittin' the bar._"

Over his earpiece, he heard Diggle's voice. "Give it a second, Oliver. There's a few more guys near the office. I'll see what I can do."

"That's fine, I'm upstairs anyway seeing if I can get a lead on Baler." Oliver kept his voice low.

"Let me know if you find anything."

Oliver turned his attention back to the other side of the hallway opposite the direction the sound from the radio had come from. He tried the first door he got to, and it opened. He quietly slid inside.

While the room contained a bed and a small sofa, Oliver made his way over to a roll top desk on the far side of the entrance. Praying the desk would stay silent, he held his breath and pulled up on the knobs, rolling the top to the open position.

Inside the desk were a few envelopes, some pens, and a small box. Oliver lifted the top off the box to reveal a small ledger. Flicking it open, he was rewarded with a list of handwritten names, locations, and dates, along with truck numbers. "Gotcha."

"What was that, Oliver?"

"I found his list of delivery targets. We have all we need, I'm heading back downstairs." Oliver tucked the small book in his jacket pocket and quietly rolled down the top of the desk.

"Perfect timing," said Digg. "I'm getting ready to keep the other guards busy. Room's ready for our girl to do her magic."

Oliver slipped out of the room and made his way down the long stairs to head back into the main party room. Scanning the room, it took him no time to find Felicity. He made his way over to her.

Oliver noted she was now sipping from a tall glass instead of a champagne flute. The glass looked cloudy. "OK Felicity, you're on." He tilted his head while she took a long sip. "That _is_ water, right?"

"Yes. With lime, I guess? Cucumber?" She made a face. "Actually, it's kind of gross. Apparently rich people can't even drink water without garnishing it. Here, hold this." She handed the half-empty glass to Oliver, who put it down on a nearby tray. "I'm getting another one, then I'm headed to the server room."

As Oliver watched her head back to the bar, he saw her slight stumble. She reached out to steady herself and continued on. He turned his head down to get back on the comm. A sudden thought occurred to him.

"Hey Digg?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you see Felicity eat anything today?"

Oliver thought about it and honestly couldn't remember the last time he saw Felicity eat while they were together. Him and Diggle had left Queen Consolidated to go interrogate some locals about a potential hit. From there, Felicity had told them about tonight, and here they were.

They had gotten food while they were out, but with a pang of guilt, Oliver realized they had not thought to bring anything back for Felicity.

"Dammit," he heard Diggle mutter under his breath over the comm. "If I had known I wouldn't have let her drink anything."

"I saw her. She's going to go flat on her ass with those heels in the state she is right now, Diggle, we have to call this off."

"Guys, I can hear you, remember? I'm well versed in heels. It's usually all I wear. I'd go flat on my ass in flats. Maybe that's why they're called 'flats'. Because we go flat on our ass." Oliver heard her over-emphasize each letter in the word 'flat'. "Flat on my ass in flats." She giggled.

"Actually, now that I think of it, nothing good has ever come out of me wearing flats." The sudden sadness in her tone of voice over the comm had Oliver instantly lifting his head to find her in the room.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized he couldn't find her. "Dammit Felicity, tell me you aren't already in the server room." He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for her answer.

It felt like ages, but in what was more like a few seconds, he heard her voice, uncharacteristically quiet, but it sounded like a cry of frustration.

"Felicity, what's wrong?" His heart was pounding now.

"My cable is shot."

Panic filled his lungs. "Shot? How?"

"SSssssshort. Short, it's too short."

* * *

**As one reviewer for an Arrow episode proclaimed, "Sad is a process that leads to happy." I can absolutely promise you fluff and comfort and major olicity FEELS. But not right now. :-)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Please let me know if you're enjoying the story so far! I'd really appreciate knowing if you're liking what you've been reading so far. :-)**

* * *

Oliver hoped his outwardly appearance was calm, because his heart was beating a mile a minute on the inside. "What do you mean it's too short?"

"Ssssok, I can fix it. I think. No, I can. Yes, I mean yes, I can. Make a new one, I can make a new one." Her slurring was getting worse and for a moment, Oliver wondered if she had more than the two he saw her drink.

"Felicity, get out of there NOW," he seethed through clenched teeth. "We are DONE here."

"NO. I can do it."

In his ear, Oliver could hear Felicity moving about the server room. Though it was muffled, he heard the sound of shifting and shuffling over his earpiece.

He could also hear Digg maintaining a conversation about football with the remaining guards in a small room near where Felicity and the server was, and he was silently thankful that his large friend had left the lair early last night to catch the end of the game.

"I'm going to go help her," Oliver said into the comm, as he turned around and came face to face with none other than Anderson Baler's outstretched hand.

"Mr. Queen, I was hoping I'd get to shake your hand tonight to thank you personally for your generous donation." Baler had a wide smile on his face.

Cursing his luck, Oliver pursed his lips together and mirrored Baler's smile, shaking his hand firmly. "Thanks for having me. This is a nice place you have." He looked Baler directly in the eye, "You run a tight operation here."

While Oliver hoped he outwardly appeared to be paying attention to Anderson Baler, his brain was frantically racking for a way to get a message to Diggle over the comm.

"Mr. Baler, tell me, how many people do you have working for you? I know what it's like to have volunteers, you really have to _dig_ to find people to _help_ you when you need it the most."

Oliver didn't listen to Baler's response. Over his earpiece, he heard what sounded like Diggle standing up. When the voice that wasn't Diggle's became louder in Oliver's ear, he knew the moment Diggle had gotten his message and had moved closer to the guard who was talking.

Diggle's voice interrupted the younger man's rambling. "Well, the coach _has_ to remember that his team's got this, and if they need him, there's usually an assistant right there near the sidelines who can call a new play in a heartbeat if he needs to."

Choruses of "_Exactly_", and "_that's what I'm saying_," followed in his earpiece and Oliver let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding knowing that not only had Diggle gotten his call for help, he'd answered that he was nearby if needed.

Knowing that the situation was temporarily handled, Oliver decided to turn his attention on learning more about Anderson Baler.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the server room, Felicity was busy trying to figure out how to magically extend the length of the crossover cable.

Angry at her both her deteriorating ability to focus and her short-sightedness in creating a cable that was made to fit in her small clutch, she started to make her way around the room to find out what assets she had.

The cable she brought, now useless, was put back in her clutch.

She did have the sense to remember that the purpose of the mission was to go undetected, so moving the router was out of the question. Reasoning that creating a new cable was the only viable way to go, she began the hunt for what she needed.

Blinking away a double-vision of the router, she took stock of the layout. Aside from a cabinet and a few shelves containing stacks of blank CDs, her best bet was a box on the floor next to the server. Felicity could see the tip of what looked like a keyboard sticking out, so she took it out and began rummaging.

Tossing aside the keyboard, she dug out a small toolbox. Reaching further yielded a small bag of clear plastic network connectors. Finding no extra network cables, she stood up from the box and took a long look at the server, and back to the router.

She could see where they were already connected together by a long, gray cable. Once again taking stock of her assets, she had extra connectors, but no actual extra cable. Looking back at the bag of clear ethernet connectors, she made her decision.

She would repurpose the existing cable that the server and router were currently using and turn it into a crossover cable.

She made her way back to the server and unplugged the cable, followed by unplugging the other end of the cable at the router.

Looking at the color of the pin cables on one end of the connector reminded her that she still needed a network crimping tool. Opening the toolbox she had found, her eyes glanced at the pair of pliers, screwdriver and screwdriver tips. Not believing her eyes, she picked up the large screwdriver to clear the view and looked again.

"What kind of a sadistic server room is this that contains ethernet connectors but no crimping tool? How can you even call yourself a server room?"

"My wishlist for next season? What I _really_ wish is that the other channels would give us status updates on the game when we're stuck watching something else." Diggle's sudden voice over the comm caused Felicity to jump slightly, the screwdriver tumbling from her hand and onto the floor next to her clutch.

"I could repurpose the current cable with a new connector to turn it into a crossover cable," she focused to get the words out clearly. "But there's no crimping tool. One tool to rule them all." She sighed. "One very, very important tool. It lets me cut the cable as well as crimp the connector over the wires..." she paused and pressed her palms over her eyes. "And this is way too much effort to tell you this when you won't get it anyway."

Removing her hands from her eyes, she stared at the screwdriver and her clutch. Still having trouble focusing her eyes, she saw two screwdrivers and two clutches. She continued to watch, mesmorized, as they crawled across her vision and overlayed on top of each other.

The solution came to her faster than her body could process the movement and she almost lost her balance in her rush to grab the screwdriver and open her clutch.

"Never mind, I've got this. Extreme networking, yes, impossible, no."

She opened her clutch and looked for the dagger that Diggle had insisted she bring, blinking twice hard and making sure she was steady before grasping the hilt and making her way back to the cable she had unplugged earlier.

"Dagg, I can use your digger to cut the cable. Wait." That didn't sound right. She stopped and tried again. "Digg, I'm going to use your dagger."

She heard a loud gasp that turned into a coughing fit in her ear, which she assumed came from Oliver.

Ignoring the comm for a moment, she held the dagger next to the end of the cable, where the gray cable met the plastic ethernet connector. _No going back after this_, she thought, and felt her stomach flip over.

She made the cut. It was a clean slice, and she stuck the old plastic connector she had just cut off into her clutch. She then began peeling back the gray cable lining to expose the cluster of different colored wires.

Rearranging the wires was an arduous task, as her vision was deteriorating and she had to keep blinking to focus on only one wire at a time while continuously glancing at the other end of the cable to look at the orange and green wires on that side.

The next step was sliding one of the new plastic connectors into the end of the wires, which she managed to do with relative ease.

Finally came the hard part, and what she really needed the crimping tool for. The wires needed to be pushed into the pins on the connector so they would stay put into their contact points.

Picking up the screwdriver again, Felicity put the flat head end against one wire on the plastic connector and pressed down hard. She felt the slight give as the soft plastic pushed down onto the wire.

"One wire down, seven to go."

The screwdriver was starting to feel unnaturally heavy, so Felicity knew she needed to speed things up. Her arm felt like she was moving through quicksand, but she managed to stay on task and get through the remaining pins, though she didn't know how long it took her.

Triumphantly picking up her newly created crossover cable, she plugged one end into the server, and made her way over to the router to connect the other end.

"Enjoy your conversation with each other." She tried to pat the router but her arm was too heavy to lift. Letting out a deep sigh, she looked up and tried to will away the echoing sensation in her ears.

For the first time, she noticed a small white glow coming from the cabinet next to the shelving unit. Crossing the room, the glow tunneled her vision and gave it a faraway look.

She reached for the handle and missed the first time, almost sending her face first into the cabinet door. She managed to twist her body at the last minute, throwing her shoulder into the door instead. "Ooomph."

"What was that?" Felicity heard Oliver loudly in the comm. She heard Baler, thinking Oliver had asked him to repeat himself, starting his sentence over again.

Their voices had a strange, faraway sound to them and she had to remind herself that the sound was indeed coming from her ear.

Lifting her body off of the cabinet door, she tried opening it again. This time her fingers closed around the handle and she swung the door open, shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness of the image freeze-framed on the monitor that was now staring back at her.

The picture was fuzzy and she was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open, but there was no mistaking who the man in the frame was. Felicity didn't recognize the door he was exiting, or the hallway he was in, but there was no mistaking that it was definitely Oliver she was looking at.

"Oliver," she managed to get out. "Whatever you did, someone here knows about it."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Thank you all for those that have reviewed so far! **

**This chapter is for loucurasdachapeleira, my lovely Valentine's Day match on Tumblr. This is my gift to you today, some olicity feels. **

**Here we go! This chapter is the big escape! **

**As always, if you are enjoying this, please drop me a line or a review and let me know so I know I'm on the right track!**

* * *

Oliver's blood ran cold at Felicity's words. Already frustrated at having learned little from Baler in the short time they'd been chatting, all he needed now was nothing more than a quick exit.

Looking around the room, Oliver stuck out his hand. "Thank you for your time, Anderson. If you'll excuse me, I need to find my executive assistant."

Taking his hand in a firm grip, Baler smiled slightly. "I understand. But," he looked thoughtful. "Before you go, I have a question for you."

Oliver tensed. Raising his eyebrows instructing him to continue, he released his hand from Baler's grip.

"A protector of my home saw you wandering around upstairs earlier. Assuming you were lost, he didn't feel the need to tell me about it."

"Until?" Oliver asked casually, already knowing the answer.

"Until he saw you on security footage walking out of a room."

Oliver had his answer ready. Years of practice at shirking responsibility, handling aristocrats and covering for himself and his friends had him prepared. "Ah, you saw that," he said smoothly, putting on his best party smile.

"About that, I'm sorry," he forced a laugh. Rubbing his hand behind his neck, he tried to look sheepish. "I was talking to a girl at the bar, and she didn't exactly want to wait." He looked up at Baler, ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach at having to bring back the man he'd tried so hard to bury since he'd returned from the island.

Baler laughed. "I knew you were a ladies man, so that didn't surprise me." Shame was replaced with relief, flooding through Oliver as his thoughts went to finding Felicity and Diggle and getting them all to safety.

Instantly Baler's smile dropped and his eyes iced over. "But what I didn't know, and what did surprise me, is that Oliver Queen is a good for nothing _thief_."

Oliver's heart dropped. He tried to look confused, but in his heart he knew Baler wasn't buying it. "What are you talking about?"

Baler leaned in close to Oliver's personal space but put a smile back on, thought it didn't reach his eyes. To onlookers, they were having a pleasant conversation, but Oliver could see that every muscle in Baler's body was tense.

"Listen, you little _shit_. Drop the act. Give me back my notebook or so help me I will make your life a living _hell_."

That was it. Oliver was done. It was time to take Anderson Baler down.

Dropping his voice dangerously low, he raised his eyebrow, clenched his fist and leaned back into Baler's space, causing Baler to lean back slightly.

"If I was doing an job like yours, I wouldn't need a fund raiser for my illegal operations." He patted his lapel pocket. "I've got more money in here right now than you'll make all night."

His eyes met Baler's, and for a brief moment, Baler blanched slightly. Taking momentary advantage and seeing his opportunity, Oliver went for the kill. "And I can do a lot with my money."

"What do you know about my operation?" Whether Baler was scared, or genuinely curious, Oliver didn't care anymore.

"It doesn't matter. You're going down, Anderson."

Baler's face went from fearful to furious, and Oliver didn't even bother hiding his voice as he turned and started walking away. "Digg!"

"What are you going to do? Dig your way out of here?" Baler half yelled, half laughed, as startled guests looked up. "You have NO idea what you're dealing with. You think your love life is going to ruin MY operation? You just wait!"

Oliver made his way into the hallway past a roomful of staring guests and was about to turn down the hall that would take him to Felicity and Diggle when he heard Diggle's voice over the comm.

"We got trouble!" He sounded breathy, and Oliver could hear signs of struggle in the earpiece. Baler must have put out a call to stop Oliver.

Knowing that Diggle was outnumbered, Oliver changed course and headed out the main doorway and towards the car, where he had his gear stashed in the trunk.

* * *

In the server room, Felicity was slowly trying to make her exit back to the main party area. She leaned over, grabbed her clutch, and managed to make her way to the door. Entering the hallway, she could hear loud noises, though they sounded like she was underwater.

She could tell they were close by, and something in the back of her mind told her she should be alarmed by it, but Felicity could not make herself care.

She rounded a corner. As she stared down the long hallway wondering how she was possibly going to make it that far, she saw what looked like a figure running down the hall come into view. Felicity could only stand and stare at the blur that was coming towards her, faster, and getting larger.

BAM!

The figure collided with Felicity, and they both tumbled to the floor.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" She heard a male voice, but it sounded faraway. The voice sounded familiar, though. Vaguely aware that she was now sitting on the floor, she felt an arm grab her by the shoulder and haul her back onto her feet.

She squinted at his face. "Kevin?" Disoriented at seeing a Queen Consolidated employee at Anderson Baler's house, her mind tried to put together if she really had been dreaming all this time.

"Felicity Smoak? Wow, it's great to see you outside of the office!" He leaned in a little closer. "Uh, did you know you're bleeding?"

She put her hand to her face and then looked at it. A faint tinge of red stained her hand. She hadn't remembered cutting herself, and certainly hadn't remembered feeling any pain. She must have cut herself with the dagger when she was making the crossover cable. Clearly she hadn't been as careful as she thought she had been.

Without saying a word, she slowly opened her clutch and then remembered she had only joked about having a compact mirror, she didn't actually have one.

She caught the glint of the dagger and had the temporary presence of mind to close the clutch quickly. Too tired to care about her face, she gave up and dropped her arms and just stood there blankly.

"Hey, here, let me help." Kevin grabbed his pocket square and Felicity felt a small pressure being applied to her cheek. "It's not bad but it looks like you nicked it on something sharp."

He put the handkerchief down. "Ummm, I'm really sorry, but I have to go. Does your boss know you're here? Actually, what _are_ you doing here?"

"S'trying to get, party," she heard herself mumble through closed eyes.

"Man, I'm sorry I have to go." She heard his voice, which actually sounded quite apologetic. However, it was also soothing at the moment.

She felt her stomach lurch and realized she was being moved. Something solid and flat pressed against her back, and she opened her eyes long enough to see that she had been leaned against a wall, propped up by a vase of flowers on a long table.

Feeling comfortable leaning against the wall in the now empty hallway, she allowed her eyes to droop just for a quick second.

* * *

Oliver retrieved his bow, mask and hood and was now making his way around the outside perimeter of the mansion to find an alternate entrance.

Thoughts of Felicity and Diggle still in the mansion had him moving faster, heading to the back of the house.

He had made his way near the pool area, seeing his chance with a pair of glass doors leading into the house from a walkway by the pool. Not wanting to waste any time, he didn't bother checking the door first to see if it was unlocked.

Pulling a detonating arrow from his quiver, he aimed, and let his arrow fly. It cut through the air and he could tell by the location of the blinking light that it had landed exactly where he wanted it.

He waited in silence for a few seconds, and then, unflinching, heard the loud bang and watched sparks fly, followed by the sound of shattering glass as the doors exploded.

He made his way through the glass into a dark, unlit eating area. Exiting through the door on the far side of the room, he found himself in a long hallway.

Nocking an arrow at the ready, he quickly crept around a corner, checking to make sure it was empty, looking for signs of Felicity, who had gone dangerously quiet over the comm.

He repeated this for a few more corners, making his way towards a commotion he heard coming from a single room. He assumed it was where Diggle had been keeping the guards occupied and was now fighting for his life.

He burst through the doorway and quickly scanned the room, his arrow still nocked and ready. Diggle was putting up a fight and looked a little worse for wear, but he was clearly outnumbered and visibly tiring.

Oliver didn't think, he let his arrow fly. The arrow sank into the leg of one of Diggle's opponents and the guard let out a cry and sunk to the ground, grasping his leg in pain.

Before he could get another arrow nocked, another guard who had been in the room grabbed his arm and Oliver temporarily lost his balance. Recovering quickly, he swept his leg and the man went flat on the floor.

Oliver stuck an arrow in the man's shoulder, but before he could stand up, he saw the foot coming before he could stop it. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and temporarily lost the ability to take a deep breath. Looking up, he saw yet another guard pull back his arm to go in for the punch.

Oliver braced himself for impact but it never came. Instead, the guard went down on top of him, adding to his already hurting stomach. He looked up to see Digg's hand reaching out to him. "Man, you have some nice timing."

Oliver took Digg's hand, and he was hauled up onto his feet. "I could say the same for you. Thanks Digg."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," said Oliver. "Somehow he knew I took the notebook. I guess we missed a camera and a guard."

"Damn," muttered Diggle. "This is bad, right?"

"No, he's panicking. Really panicking. He's desperate. We got him. I still have the notebook, we can get it to Lance. We stopped him tonight and we'll stop him for good- " he stopped midsentence when a thought struck him in horror.

"Felicity!" He was out the door before he had finished yelling her name, Diggle right behind him.

Turning down the hallway opposite the way he had come in, Oliver's heart twisted once more when he saw a familiar blonde half leaning, half slumped against a narrow table in the hall.

He bolted down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of her, nearly colliding with the table. Putting his bow on his back, one hand leaned in behind her neck to lift her head up gently while the other hand pulled her up from the table.

She let out a low groan, which had Oliver let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, until he heard Diggle curse. "What happened to her face?"

He looked at her face and saw the bright red slash mark on her cheek. It had stopped bleeding, but was smeared like it had been wiped away.

"Cut mssslf," came the mumbled reply. She was leaning heavily on Oliver now, who exchanged a worried glance with Diggle.

Something wasn't right. This had breezed past a drunken buzz and even a drunken stupor, and there was only one logical conclusion left.

He felt himself tense up again and a surge of adrenaline rushing through him when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy Oliver, let's just get her out of here for now, worry about how it happened later."

Oliver was ready to ignore his friend, his bow was only a heartbeat away and he could put the fear of God in to whomever he had to in order to-

"Oliver!" Diggle's sharp voice brought him back.

Taking one more glance at Felicity's face, he finally turned his attention to Digg. He made himself take a deep breath before he spoke. "There's another exit down the south corridor, it's how I got in."

"Oliver." The word was so quietly spoken he almost didn't hear it. She was mumbling something else through closed eyes and he leaned in close to hear. "I'm here."

"No stay 'wake… saaaffffe." He knew what she was asking.

He bent over and picked her up at her knees, sweeping her into his arms. "It's ok, Felicity, I've got you. You're safe. You can go to sleep now." She must have heard his reply, because she instantly went limp in his arms.

"Oliver, we have to go. Now." Diggle had already started moving down the corridor when a sharp voice made them both freeze.

"It's Baler," Oliver said in a low voice.

Diggle glanced around the corner and ducked back. "He's on the phone. He looks pretty spooked."

Baler's voice became louder, and more agitated. "What do you mean it's not going through? It has to go through or I can't deliver. If everything looks fine, call the provider! Get me back online. Make it go through. I hired you so this wouldn't happen!" As he talked, his voice became more faraway and it sounded like he was pacing.

In spite of their situation, Oliver felt himself surge with pride. His lips turned up in a smile. She'd done it.

More footsteps joined Baler's, and a low conversation could be heard, though Oliver couldn't make out the words. "What do you mean, he disappeared? What the _hell_ am I paying you incompetent jackasses for?"

The pair of footsteps stormed off away from them, the sound of their footsteps gradually fading away. Diggle and Oliver hadn't moved, Oliver still holding on tightly to Felicity.

"Do you need me to take her?" Digg asked nodding his head towards Felicity. Oliver shook his head and shifted his grip on her. "No, I've got her. Let's go."

They made their way uneventfully out of the back entrance Oliver had destroyed earlier. Digg raised his eyebrow at Oliver, who was stepping carefully over the glass, still holding Felicity. The room was still dark, no one had noticed the damage yet. Oliver attributed that to Diggle keeping the guards busy.

Quickly, they made their way past the pool and back to the front parking lot.

Reaching the car first, Diggle opened the back door so Oliver could sit down with Felicity in his lap. She was still completely dead weight. She hadn't moved, and Oliver had to keep checking to make sure her stomach was moving up and down. He couldn't make himself stop staring at the glaring red line across her cheek.

Using his mouth to remove his glove, he held her jaw with his hand, and lifted her eyelid with his other hand. Getting no response, he let her eyelid shut gently and glanced at Diggle the rearview mirror.

"Roofie?" While it was a question, Diggle's voice held a serious tone.

"I don't know, Digg. I don't know."

"And what do we do about Baler?" asked Diggle.

"Baler's going down, and we're going to find out who did this to Felicity." Oliver's eyes darkened underneath his hood. "And why."

They rode back to the lair in silence after that, both of them needing to hear Felicity's soft breathing as they drove through the streets of Starling City.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews so far! And now, the team taking care of Felicity. And, a funny situation covering the big fandom question of "the couch in the lair. Is there, or isn't there?"**

**As usual, please let me know if you're enjoying the story! **

* * *

Sitting in the task chair normally reserved for Felicity, Oliver stared at her still form, resting on the couch. He had patched up her cheek, still wondering how the cut got there in the first place, and frustrated at having to wait to find out.

Satisfied with his work, he had tucked her in with the gray blanket they kept with the other medical supplies.

After that, there was nothing to do but wait. Waiting was never something he had been particularly good at.

Diggle walked over to where Oliver was sitting next to the couch, and dropped his hand on Oliver's shoulder.

"You got a long time to go. She'll be sleeping for a fair bit."

Oliver didn't move, didn't even acknowledge his presence, causing Diggle to pause for a moment before speaking again.

"You know she'll be fine, Oliver."

After a few more moments, Oliver finally took his eyes away from Felicity and swiveled the chair towards Diggle, who had just removed his hand and was about to walk away.

"I should have known," he paused without looking up and started over again. "She's never given me a reason to doubt her. Ever."

Diggle stopped midstep and turned. "What are you talking about?" When Oliver didn't answer immediately, he rubbed his hands over his face and continued.

"Look, I know this didn't go anywhere remotely like it was supposed to, and you don't have to tell me twice about what it was like having to patch _her_ up instead of you," he nodded towards Felicity, unmoving on the couch. "But… that's not what's bugging you right now, is it?"

Oliver finally looked up at Diggle, hoping he didn't look as tired as he felt right then, and spoke.

"She was in that room, trying to switch that cable, god knows how she could even see straight, she probably couldn't, and," he let out a deep breath, unable to say the rest of the words.

"And you were angry. " Diggle finished it for him. "You were angry because you actually thought she had gone and done something irresponsible like drink too much while on a mission."

"I was angry," Oliver hung his head low. "And the worst of it all is that I feel like I betrayed her because of it."

"How do you figure?"

"Everything she's ever done with us, it's always been for me. She gave up her job, her life, who knows how many friends she had before she started coming here every night." Oliver paused and realized with a pang of even more sadness that he didn't know how many friends Felicity actually had.

"She's never given less than one-hundred percent, and I betrayed her by thinking she had. Again." Inwardly he cringed remembering his more-than-harsh words he had spoken to her once before in the lair already.

"Oliver, you may not know this about yourself, but rational thinking has never been your strong suit. And if it involves Felicity?" Diggle laughed, "Forget it, man. When you suffer because of her, we all suffer. Trust me on this one.

"Look," he continued. "I'd be lying if I didn't say myself that I thought the exact same thing for a bit, and I'd also be lying if I said I didn't feel a little bit like you do right now.

His face turned serious for a moment. "But how you felt then didn't matter."

Oliver frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'm not following you, Digg."

"Then I'll tell you. When she came onboard, you know I wasn't happy about it. That seems like a lifetime ago and of course we made the right decision, but do you remember what you told me?"

Of course Oliver remembered. He would never forget. He said they could protect her. He said _he_ could protect her.

"I said I could protect her."

"And that's exactly what you did." Diggle pointed a finger at his chest. "Mad or not. You got her out of there safely. And that's all I would ever expect from you."

Oliver allowed himself to feel a glimmer of hope at Diggle's words.

"And," Digg continued. "You may be the one that stares at her all day, but that promise of protection wasn't just yours to make. We're a team, and that means she's on _my_ team, too.

"So what I'm trying to say is, thanks. For getting her out of there." He straightened up and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with what he'd just said. Sighing, he turned and walked away.

As he started to walk up the stairs, Oliver heard his voice getting farther away. "Besides, I never thought I'd want to see you have a 'get out of jail free' card for getting out of trouble with Felicity, but this time she's not going to remember you getting mad at her anyway."

For the first time since they'd been back at the lair, Oliver felt his mouth twitch up in a small smile, and he swiveled the chair back around to continue his vigil over Felicity in silence.

* * *

Confusion. That was her first thought. Where was she? How did she get wherever _this_ was?

The second thing she decided was that thinking too much was definitely _not_ a good idea, as her stomach lurched. Before opening her eyes, she allowed herself to take a moment to try and figure out where she was.

She was lying on something soft, she could tell that from how comfortable she was. She was warm, so she must have a blanket draped over her. Her mouth tasted like the inside of a stale champagne bottle, and her head felt like it was going to throb right out of her skull. She also felt a dull ache on her cheek.

She let out a low groan, and instantly heard a chair squeak, though it sounded nearby. "Hey, how are you feeling?" She heard a familiar voice and felt a warm hand stroke her face.

She instantly relaxed knowing Oliver was here, wherever _here_ was, and thankful that he was using his gentle tone for the sake of her pounding head.

"She up?" She heard Diggle's voice get closer, so she could tell he was coming towards her.

They were both here, wherever _here_ was. Tired, Felicity realized she didn't have the energy to care where she was at the moment. The only two people that mattered to her were with her, and that was all she needed for the moment.

She opened her eyes a crack, but all she saw was hazy shapes around her. She saw the dim glow of her three monitors, and instantly knew she was back in the lair.

"Blurry," she managed to get out.

She heard a low chuckle and felt her glasses being placed over her eyes. "Here, that should help."

It did help. She could see clearly now. Yes, she was definitely in the lair, but her main focus was on Oliver's pained expression staring right at her from about a foot away. He was staring at her with _that_ look, the one that made her feel like she was the only person in the entire world.

Her head throbbed again. "Poundy," she grunted, pressing her hands against her head, hoping it would stop the pain.

"I'm sorry." He sounded so sad. The next thing she felt was a warm washcloth placed on her forehead. It felt wondeful and for a moment, she didn't care why she was lying down in the lair.

Wait a minute. She was lying down in the lair?

She tried to push herself up, but she felt his arms gently pushing her back down, followed by his voice. "Felicity, please just lie back down on the couch."

"I'm on a couch? In the lair?"

Her disoriented feeling came back. "Since when do we have a couch in the lair?"

She turned her head slowly towards the inside of the couch and looked more closely at the cushion. "That actually looks remarkably similar to the one in the office at Verdant. That's up like, two flights of stairs?" She looked at Oliver for an explanation, but it was Diggle who spoke first.

"Since Broody McGee here wouldn't let you sleep it off on the metal table." He leaned in and gave Felicity a squeeze on the shoulder. "Glad to see you're awake. I don't think I could take much more of him," he nodded towards Oliver.

She gave Diggle a smile in response and leaned in to the cushion again. "I do have an apartment, you know."

Diggle's face turned sober. "We didn't want to bring you there. We didn't know what you were given, or who gave it to you, so we needed you here in case…" he couldn't say it.

"In case you didn't just sleep it off," Oliver finished for him.

"Wait, sleep what off?" Starting to feel like herself again, now she needed answers. "Come to think of it, why am I here again, lying on a couch that probably costs more than I make in a month with a pounding headache, and you two staring at me like someone kicked your dog."

Oliver sighed and leaned in closer from the task chair. "What's the last thing you remember from yesterday?"

"I don't know, I guess I went-" She looked up at him, suddenly afraid. "I don't remember."

"Hey - it's ok," Oliver looked at her with enough intensity to make her sudden fear dissolve away. He took her hand. "You're safe. We think you were roofied."

"_Roofied_?" He had to be wrong. That didn't happen to girls like her. She was smart. Smarter than that. That only happened to girls who walked near dark alleys and went to seedy bars, and this was just like that pot brownie she ate by accident all over again and-

"Hey now, shhhhh. We'll figure this out." This time his hand caressed her cheek gently and again, she instantly relaxed.

She let herself be comforted by his words for a moment, until she was interrupted by a thought. "Wait a minute, I do remember something."

It was hazy, but it was there. "I was getting ready. Here!" She began to get excited. "I was getting ready here!"

Immediately a wall of memories hit her and she sat up before Oliver could stop her. "Oh my GOD, we were going to a gala!" Her head lurched again, but she brushed it off.

Oliver nodded seriously. "That was last night. We went. All of us. That's where you got the drug in your system. We're assuming it was from one of the guests, but who knows." He looked apologetic for a moment. "We need _you_ to access all the security cameras he had there and hopefully you can tell us what happened.

"Later, much later of course," he quickly added. "But I can tell you that you got the job done. The transaction was stopped, whatever you did."

The look on his face didn't go unnoticed. He looked… proud. She enjoyed the feeling for a fleeting moment, before a horrible thought struck her. "I didn't do… anything, did I?"

He must have known what she was asking, because he answered quickly and leaned forward towards her. "No." She must have looked worried, because he said it again more forcefully.

"No. There _was_ a little trouble getting us all out of there, but me and Digg found you and then we left." He looked like he had more to say, but Felicity let it go for the moment.

"Define trouble, and does it have anything to do with the fact that you _were_ putting on a tux when I last remember seeing you, but you're now wearing your Arrow hoodie?"

He looked down at himself in genuine surprise, and Felicity realized he probably didn't actually know he was still wearing it. How long had she been out, and how worried had he been?

She ignored the feeling in her gut at the entire situation and made herself just focus solely on his words, knowing if she didn't do that, she would lose it right then and there.

"Trouble as in… I found Baler's log book, which I then stole, which he _caught_ me stealing," he looked up at Felicity. "Me as in _me_, not the Arrow, though that's how we got out." Her eyes went wide.

"But we'll worry about that later, when I can turn his book over to Officer Lance." He leaned towards her again. "We are _not_ worrying about it now."

His expression softened. "My primary concern right now is you. Can I get you anything?"

She needed to start clearing her foggy head some more.

"Coffee. Need coffee. Please," she added. What she _really_ wanted was painkillers for her head, but the last thing she wanted to do at the moment was put more drugs into her body.

"I'll get it," offered Diggle. He turned and headed towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Felicity?" She looked up. He was wearing his smirk again. "It was actually _three_ flights for that damn couch, and you owe me big time."

She started to laugh, but the sudden movement caused her head to spin. Wincing, she lay back down on the couch and closed her eyes.

The lair was suddenly silent, aside from the sound of Diggle's feet going up the stairs. She peeked one eye open. Oliver was scrutinizing her from the chair, still right next to the couch.

"You should have walked away." His quiet voice broke the silence.

"What?"

"You should have walked away," he repeated, louder this time. "I know you don't remember any of this, but you must have known you weren't feeling right and you still went ahead and worked on that cable."

He put his hand over her cheek and rubbed his thumb over her bandage. "You must have cut yourself when you did something with the cable. You told me over the comm that the one you brought was too short. You said you were going to make a new one."

She didn't remember, at all. It was a strange feeling, to hear about what she had done and have no recollection about it. If she thought about it too hard, she knew she would fall apart. Instead, she resorted to her usual defense tactics, which involved snark and sarcasm. "Make a new one, yep, sounds like something I would do all right."

"Stopping a deal from going through is _not_ worth the risk of putting you in danger like that." His eyes were pleading. "I found you," he had to pause for a moment. "I found you slumped over and leaning against a wall. Felicity, I never want to see you like that again."

She started to talk but he interrupted her. "Me and Digg went from being angry about what happened to _scared _at seeing you like that, in an instant. And then all I wanted to do was get you out of there, and back here."

Still not ready to address what actually happened to her, or what could have happened to her, she sat up again and focused on what was easy to talk about.

"Oliver, you may have noticed that I don't walk away from my jobs. I may not have liked being told I was your executive assistant, but it's still my job and I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities."

Oliver should have known. She'd never half-assed anything that she'd done for him so far. In fact, she'd never half-assed anything in her life.

"It wouldn't have made a difference how I was feeling, even if I could remember it, which I can't." She sighed. "I probably still would have kept going."

"You were hurt."

"By _myself, _God that's embarrassing. I seriously would have thought I could have done a better job of that," groaned Felicity.

Oliver blinked and when he spoke next, he stopped at every sentence. "You had a dagger. That you used. While. You. Were. _Drugged_."

"And I thought I could have done a better job. Mr. 'I probably never finished an assignment in school', you totally wouldn't understand."

That finally got a laugh out of Oliver.

Relaxing slightly again, she looked down, noticing for the first time that she was still in her red dress from the gala. "That settles it, I'm burning this the next chance we get. Nothing good has ever happened in this dress."

"You said the same thing about your flats last night," Oliver said sadly.

She did? "It's true," she whispered. "I don't wear them very often. The last time I wore flats Helena tied me up right over there." She gestured near her computers. "And the time before that, my mom…" She stopped, not ready to go there just yet.

Feeling sleepy from her conversation, she lay down again, and without prompt, he tucked the blanket back around her. "Rest up now. This is going to hit you harder later, I promise."

A thought struck her suddenly, and she sat up slightly. "But I thought you needed me to get into Anderson Baler's camera system? It shouldn't be connected to the server, which apparently you said I took down. I hope it's not connected to it." She tried to make herself remember about the gala, but there was just nothing.

"Dammit, I wish I could remember, it's so weird knowing I was there, in that room, but just don't remember at all…"

She saw Oliver lean over her, and then he leaned in towards her face. She felt him press a soft kiss to her forehead. If that was his plan all along, it worked, as she instantly stopped talking and closed her eyes.

"Felicity," he begged. "Please just rest. It can wait. I promise."

Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps clanking down the stairs echoed throughout the lair. "Coffee for the lady," Diggle's voice followed the footsteps. He walked over to the couch and she opened her eyes as he handed her the steaming cup he had brought.

"Oh, Diggle, I could kiss you for this," she exclaimed happily.

"You might want to hold off on that. I got it upstairs from Verdant, so it kind of sucks."

* * *

**Please let me know if you're enjoying this! We still have two more chapters left. Between finding out who did this to Felicity, making sure Anderson Baler is brought down, and oh yes - Isabelle Rochev will rear her nasty claws even! **


	7. Chapter 7

** Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait between updates! Here it is. I hope you're enjoying it, please let me know if you are! One more chapter left after this!**

"You're really going to turn that in as Oliver Queen, at the police station the normal way instead of meeting up with Lance on a rooftop?" Diggle's eyebrows rose incredulously at Oliver.

"I have to, Digg. He caught _me_, not the Arrow. I need to end this. I already called Lance and informed him. I'll be at the office late tomorrow morning. First I have to stop at the station and hand over the evidence." Oliver stood there, in the middle of the floor in the Arrow cave staring at Anderson Baler's small notebook lying on the table.

"Is something wrong?" Felicity walked up to Oliver and looked up at him, concerned. He looked unusually lost in thought.

Granted, none of them had slept much over the weekend. Oliver had wanted to lay low from Baler, so they all had stayed at the Foundry. That's what he _said_, of course. In reality, Felicity was pretty sure it was a really just a thinly veiled attempt on _both_ their parts to keep an eye on her over the entire weekend.

Oliver walked past her over to the glass case and picked up his bow, examining it. "It's nothing."

Felicity caught Diggle's eye and they both shared a look. Clearly it wasn't nothing, and the look they shared told them both that one way or another, they were going to get to the bottom of it. But she had never pressed Oliver to talk when he wasn't ready to, and she wasn't about to now.

Oliver put his bow back, took a deep breath, and turned to Felicity, his eyes suddenly burning right into hers. For a moment she was lost in them, her previous thoughts completely forgotten. "Are you going to be ok to go back to work tomorrow morning? You don't have to, you know."

His deflective question brought her back to reality. "Yes, for the hundredth time, I'm fine," she reassured him. She did feel fine, but it was mostly because she'd been trying to keep herself busy since she had woken up Saturday afternoon.

The alternative was to actually think about what had happened, and she wasn't quite ready to reflect on that yet. Not when it was already Sunday evening and she was only just settling down to access Baler's camera system to deconstruct the events at the gala.

Oliver looked skeptical. "Oliver, really, I'm fine," sighed Felicity. He seemed to accept it finally, and turned away.

As he walked past the couch to head towards his training area, Felicity couldn't help but blurt out, "So, are we keeping that? And doesn't Thea realize hers is missing? I vote yes, by the way, and not just so you guys don't have to bring it all the way back up."

Oliver didn't miss a beat as he started warming up on the mat. "We're keeping it. I told Thea I spilled an entire pot of coffee on it, and bought her a new one."

"And she bought that? I'm glad to see I'm not the only one you tell disastrously ridiculous lies to."

Oliver stopped and looked up at Felicity. "I've always told her disastrously ridiculous lies. She just ignores them now."

Felicity sat down at her computers and started typing. "Smart girl."

After a few hours of work, she finally got her chance to access Baler's home camera system, thanking silently that they weren't connected to the server. The server, she was happy to note, was still offline.

In no time she had accessed the timeframe of the party, and sat staring, watching the night's events unfold.

It felt strangely bizarre to watch herself with no recollection of ever having been there. It was like she was watching someone else's life that just happened to look like her. She watched as she handed a drink to Diggle, and chatted with Oliver.

She watched Oliver taking the notebook from the desk, and watched Diggle chatting with a group of men in a small room, presumably Baler's guards. She watched party guests enjoy themselves, eating appetizers and drinking champagne.

But mostly, she watched herself. In fascination, she saw herself chatting with complete strangers while Oliver was upstairs. She saw herself go to the bar, and she watched herself head to the server room.

She continued to watch in rapt attention as she sliced the network cable to build a new one, nicking her cheek in the process. She saw herself stumble, trip, and falter her way around the room.

Finally, swallowing heavily and unable to watch any longer, she backtracked the video in the room to an hour before. Rewinding the video, she half paid attention, until her server tech mystery man appeared on the screen.

She quickly paused the video. Staring, openmouthed, it took a few moments for her to collect herself. Recovering, her surprise turned to anger at seeing her old co-worker from the Queen Consolidated IT department staring back at her on the screen.

"Gotcha! Seriously? We hired you and you didn't even stock your networking room with a crimper?"

Oliver dropped his training equipment and rushed over, as did Diggle who had been getting ready to spar with Oliver.

"You know that guy?" asked Diggle.

"He's a Queen Consolidated employee. His name is Kevin Hyatt." She looked up at Oliver. "He works in the IT department. God, I used to work with him." She shook her head. "I just can't believe he could do something like this."

Diggle looked at her. "You'd be surprised what some people will do for a payday."

Oliver frowned at the computer screen. "See what else you can dig up." He walked back over to his mat.

Felicity went back to her video, rewinding and fast-forwarding. She'd seen enough, now she was ready to find out what had happened to her. Rather, _when_ it had happened, and more importantly, who did it.

She watched closely while she took both glasses of champagne, tracking each one back to when it was poured. Stumped, she was about to sigh in defeat until she remembered that she had also seen herself drink a glass of water.

She watched herself drink, as she made a face and put the glass down. Rewinding the video further, she watched as she went up to the bar and ordered the water. Out of the corner of the bar, she watched in horror as Kevin walked up to the corner of the bar and called the bartender over.

"It was Kevin," She could barely choke out the words.

Oliver and Diggle, who had been sparring, looked up. It took Diggle a second longer to process what she meant than it took Oliver, who had already left the mat and grabbed his bow.

"Get me his address on the way."

He grabbed his outfit, and was already starting to go up the stairs when Felicity's reflexes kicked in and she managed to squeak out, "Oliver."

Oliver either didn't hear her, or didn't care. Getting no response, she yelled. "OLIVER!"

Oliver finally stopped and turned around.

"You can't seriously tell me you're going to go interrogate him like this." She had to know.

Oliver's face was hard and cold, and with a start she knew she wasn't looking at Oliver just then. She was looking into the eyes of the Arrow, and shivered for a second, realizing that this is what it must be like for his opponents when they were questioned by him.

Finally, he spoke, and just as his face was that of the Arrow, his voice had changed also. Low, fierce, and determined. Felicity was used to hearing the voice in her earpiece. Hearing it in the same room made the entire room hum with a palpable energy. "Remember my old way? Where I put the fear of God in them until they tell me what I want to know? I'm not arguing with you about this. It's not up for discussion."

She had to try and stop him. It just wasn't worth it. "Please don't do this on my account," she whispered.

His face didn't change, nor did his voice. "Fine. It could have something to do with the Arrow. That's the reason." It wasn't the reason. Of course it wasn't the reason. They _all_ knew it wasn't the reason.

Knowing he wasn't going to budge, she looked back down at her monitors and started typing. "At least, at least let me tell you where he'll be. I can look up his schedule. He keeps everything on his Google calendar." With a pang she remembered that they used to pull out their smartphones and go over schedules to eat lunch together. Shaking it off, she pulled up Kevin's schedule for tonight.

"Let's see, he'll be home at 7PM tonight. That's in 20 minutes. You can arrow him then."

"Felicity," sighed Oliver. "I'm not going to arrow him." He paused. "Probably." He started to walk back down the stairs.

"Oliver, what's really bugging you right now?" It was Felicity who spoke, but both her and Diggle stood up to face him at that.

Oliver turned and squared his shoulder at her. "Let's see. He drugged you, left you passed out leaning against the table, _injured_, I might add, and helped facilitate an arms deal. Does there have to be more?"

"No, not when you put it like that, I guess, but I know there's more."

He finally looked at them both. "I've just got a bad feeling." he lowered his bow, defeated. "We're doing things differently, and I'm just not sure what's going to happen."

Felicity could only look at him and say nothing as he grabbed his bow and left the lair.

* * *

Oliver had Kevin in his sight. He just needed the right time.

He waited, patiently, jumping from rooftop to fire escape as Kevin made his way down the streets of the Glades until finally he turned down a remote alleyway.

Seeing his chance, Oliver ran ahead on a rooftop, down a fire escape, and landed right in front of one very startled Kevin Hyatt.

He activated his voice modulator, drew his bow and kept it pointed at Kevin, who was staring, wide-eyed.

"Kevin Hyatt," he growled. "You WILL answer questions about your activities at Anderson Baler's gala and your involvement in his operations."

"Wha-what? Oh my God," Kevin stammered. He threw his hands in the air. "Look, it was just a way to make some quick cash, I didn't mean, I didn't mean to DO anything, I swear!" He started to sweat. "Please don't kill me," he added.

Oliver kept his bow drawn. "How do you know Anderson?"

"I play poker on Tuesdays with some of his security guys. They know I work in IT and Mr. Baler was looking for a guy, so I signed on. I just kept his computer running, ya know? That's all I did, that's all I was supposed to do." Kevin looked like he was about to piss his pants in fear, and that's just the way Oliver liked it. He was about to go in for the kill.

Oliver took a step closer, bow still pointed directly at Kevin. "No Kevin, that's not all you did."

He heard Felicity take a deep breath in his earpiece. Did she think he wasn't going to bring this up?

"What's your business with Felicity Smoak?"

Realization dawned on Kevin and his hands went up in the air immediately. "Listen, I'm sorry, man! I didn't mean to hurt her, I swear! She wasn't even supposed to be there!"

"EXPLAIN!" Oliver felt his muscles tighten.

"Ok, ok! I saw Oliver Queen's name on the guest list. Me and Felicity used to work together in the IT Department at Queen Consolidated, until she suddenly left to go work for him as his secretary or some shit." Kevin squirmed, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Anyway, if Mr. Queen showed up, I knew Felicity would probably be there with him as his assistant. I can't have any connection to Mr. Baler or what he was doing. I have a job. It's a good job. I took his name off the invite list."

"Well that explains why you didn't know about the gala," Oliver heard Felicity in his ear. "I guess you aren't losing your touch after all."

"Mr. Queen," she couldn't resist adding, and Oliver could hear the smile in her voice.

For a fleeting moment he remembered their first meeting, when she verbally gaffed her way through an awkward conversation about calling him 'Mr. Queen'. That thought reminded him of why he was standing in front of this pathetic man in the first place, and he tightened his grip on his bow.

"You don't have a job anymore," he growled.

"Oliver, that's enough, you got what you wanted, this wasn't about the Arrow." He could hear her pleading tone, but Oliver knew he hadn't gotten what he wanted yet.

In fact, he decided it was time to take a step closer. "Where did you get it?" Oliver's patience was done.

"Get what?" Oliver took one more step closer. "Get what? I don't know! I don't know what you're talking about!" Kevin started crying now.

"Where. Did. You. Get. What. You. Gave. Ms. Smoak." Oliver was practically on top of Kevin now, who had started to crouch defensively.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I saw her and Mr. Queen show up at the gala and I panicked. I tried to just have her not see me, but then one of the guys gave me a tablet and told me to put it in her drink. They said even if she saw me she wouldn't remember."

Oliver stared. Hard. Felicity took a deep breath and Oliver knew she was afraid he'd do something rash. Just then, he wanted to.

Right on cue, she spoke up. "Oliver, please just let this go." He tilted his head, listening. "Yes, his days at Queen Consolidated are over, but he's not a bad guy, just a complete slimeball."

She paused for a second, and when he heard her voice again, it was lower. "We used to chat all the time in the IT department. We used to chat about his mother." Oliver could hear the sadness and regret in her voice as she pleaded with him.

"I know she used to call him 'Kev' in front of his high school girlfriends, and even though he hated it and it embarrassed him, he let her do it anyway because it made her happy."

"He. Left. You," he said gruffly, and Oliver saw Kevin's surprised face look up as he broke radio silence by talking out loud to Felicity.

"Right. ME. Not you. Me. This happened to ME, not you. We did it your way, now we do it my way. You waved your arrow around and scared the crap out of him. I watched the video. He didn't want to leave me. I think he had to."

She took a breath, but not long enough for Oliver to get a word in. "I've got this, Oliver. Don't for one second think he's getting off with just losing his job. In fact, as we speak, his bank account is getting drained, and wow – a _very_ large donation has just been made anonymously to the Starling City Date Rape Crisis Center. Considering he has no job now, he has lots of time to think about his poor life choices."

Oliver's lips once again curled up a smile. He watched as the blood drained out of Kevin's face.

"Are you talking to her now? What are you going to do to me?"

Oliver put his bow down, and Kevin's shoulders sagged with relief. But before Kevin could even process what was happening, Oliver stepped forward and punched him. Hard. He was out before he even hit the ground.

"You punched him, didn't you?" Ignoring Felicity for the moment, Oliver closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "My hero." He heard Digg chuckle in the background.

Still not replying to her, he stepped over Kevin and headed to the fire escape he had jumped down from.

"Oliver," she said and this time her tone was soft. "Just come home."

That he could do.

* * *

**One more chapter left after this one! Please let me know if you're enjoying it. Thanks!**


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